Home Page

Document Actions

WELCOME TO THE STS ASSOCIATION WEB SITE

The Key Management Centre

The STS Key Management Centre is situated at the following address:

Eskom Convention Centre
Hendrina House no.2
Dale Road
Halfway House
Midrand, Gauteng
South Africa
1685

The office is opposite the Main Security gate. If you have any queries you can contact Mmanaka Buthelezi
on 27 (0) 11 690 4097, fax 27 (0) 11 690 4196 or email kmc@eskom.co.za

The STS Association was formed in 1997 as the custodian of the STS prepayment metering technology standard. Its aims are to maintain the necessary infrastructure, promote the technology internationally and further develop the standard to meet emerging international demands for additional functionality. The Association ensures inter-operability between system components from different manufacturers by accrediting and maintaining a list of test laboratories that ensure correct STS functionality of equipment; through the managed availability of encrypted vending keys to manufacturing members of the Association; and by ensuring consistent use of manufacturer identity codes and meter serial numbers.

Details of how to join the STS Association and how manufacturers of STS equipment can be licensed to use the technology may be obtained here or by contacting the Secretariat.

The Standard Transfer Specification (STS) has become recognised as the only globally accepted open standard for prepayment systems, ensuring inter-operability between system components from different manufacturers of prepayment systems. The application of the technology is licensed through the STS Association, thus ensuring that the appropriate encryption key management practices are applied to protect the security of the prepayment transactions of utilities operating STS systems. It has become established as a de facto worldwide standard for transfer of electricity prepayment tokens since its initial introduction in South Africa in 1993.

The STS has found widespread application, initially in South Africa and subsequently in many developed and developing countries. To date, over 10-million STS-compliant meters have been installed at 400 utilities in 30 countries around the world.

The success of the STS lies in that it is:

internationally recognised, having been published as an International Standard by IEC in 2007.
an open standard, allowing STS-compliant equipment from any number of suppliers to be integrated into an electricity sales system.
a secure standard - the encryption technology used has proved to be extremely robust.
supported by complementary specifications and standards, for prepayment meters and vending systems.
simple for customers to use.

Role of the STS Association

The mission of the STS Association is to develop, facilitate the implementation and promote the use of the Standard Transfer Specification (STS). In order to do so, it focuses its efforts in the following areas:

developing and maintaining the standard, in association with international standards bodies, by encouraging stakeholders to participate in the activities of technical Project Teams and Working Groups.
facilitating the implementation of successful STS systems through the provision of:

product certification facilities
key management services
registration service for the issuing and management of relevant data entities, numbering schemes etc.

promoting the standard through a variety of marketing activities targeted at potential users around the world.

International Standardisation

The STS was published as an International Standard by IEC in 2007:

IEC 62055-41: Electricity metering - payment systems - Part 41: Standard Transfer Specification - Application Layer Protocol for one-way token carrier systems
IEC 62055-51: Electricity metering - payment systems - Part 51: Standard Transfer Specification - Physical Layer Protocol for one-way numeric and magnetic card token carriers

The STS Association has also been appointed by IEC as the Registration Authority for IEC62055-41 (and the upcoming IEC62055-52), giving the Association responsibility for the maintenance of various data entities, companion specifications, etc.

Currently an IEC project team, in liaison with the STS Association, is finalising the specification (IEC62055-52) for a two-way Virtual Token Carrier to be used in conjunction with IEC62055-41.

Working groups have been established

Working Groups, comprising technical experts from STSA member organizations, are currently involved in a number of projects related to the ongoing maintenance of the standard, as well as new developments such as:

enhancements to the encryption key management system to allow for distributed key management using multiple key management centres worldwide.
the preparation of specifications leading to the roll-out of 'STS2' - an enhanced version of STS that will provide considerably increased functionality, opening up the application of STS to more advanced prepayment requirements.

Further information about the Standard Transfer Specification and the STS Association may be found on the Association's website www.stsassociation.org or by contacting the Secretariat.

Secretary: Mr. Jean Venter, c/o Van der Walt & Co.

P.O. Box 868, Ferndale, 2160, South Africa.

Tel: +27 11 789 1384
Fax: +27 11 789 1385

Email: info@sts.org.za